Most vaccine hesitant Jamaicans less educated, study finds

 

A new Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) study into Jamaica's low COVID-19 vaccination levels has found that most vaccine hesitant Jamaicans are less educated, low-income earners.

 

The study, Long Shot: Aiming to Reduce Vaccine Hesitancy, was released on Thursday evening.

 

Researchers surveyed a cross-sectional sample of 1,170 participants across Jamaica to determine the underlying factors that contribute to low vaccine uptake and the psychographic and demographic profile of those reluctant to take the shot.

 

Researcher Christina Ivey says the survey results produced a predominant profile of the vaccine hesitant Jamaican as a young, low-income person who did not finish primary school. 

 

"Forty-six per cent of persons with a Bachelor's degree were vaccinated, compared to only 33 per cent of those who did not finish high school and 23 per cent of those who did not finish primary school. In the same vein, half the high-income bracket had taken the vaccine compared to just 35 per cent of the lower income bracket," Ms Ivey revealed. 

 

She said this could be likely because "less educated people on lower incomes may not have access to high quality information related to the vaccine and may be less able to understand the information they do have or be subject to misinformation, which is often more digestible". 

 

The researcher noted that 47 per cent of religious people had taken the vaccine, which was 12 percentage points higher than non-religious people.

 

But a lack of trust in the government and the vaccine was found to be a major issue driving vaccine hesitancy. 

 

Complacency fed by misinformation also emerged as a reason, while 95 per cent of the unvaccinated also reported that the process of getting vaccinated was inconvenient. 

 

"While this does not necessarily mean that inconvenience was the binding obstacle to vaccination – it's only four per cent stated that a more convenient location would make it more likely for them to take the vaccine – the high proportion is still noteworthy. These people could be unvaccinated primarily because of other factors, but the discovery that so many deem it to be inconvenient suggests that the government's efforts are still lacking," Ms Ivey reasoned. 

 

The study found that a doctor's office is the preferred location to receive the vaccine, followed by a health centre. 

 

Community centres and schools are the least favoured sites to get vaccinated. 

 

About 22 per cent of the eligible population has so far been vaccinated, putting Jamaica on track to miss the March 31 target date for vaccinating 65 per cent of the population.